Technological advancements have caused the increased use of wireless phones and WiFi for Internet connections. But a few people believe that all of those wireless signals in the air can affect their health. It"s a condition called Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity and about 5 percent of US citizens believe they feel the effects associated with this condition. However, it"s also a condition that most medical doctors simply don"t believe exists.
That hasn"t stopped certain people from trying to escape from all wireless phone, WiFi or indeed all electromagnetic signals. The BBC web site reports that many of them in the US have moved to the tiny town of Green Bank, West Virginia. It"s been designated as a US Radio Quiet Zone due to the fact that a number of radio telescopes used by astronomers and the military are in use in the area. This zone is now the new home for dozens of people who are afraid of the health effects of wireless and electromagnetic signals. One of the people profiled in the article is Diane Schou, who blames signals from a mobile phone antenna in her former home in Iowa for a variety of health problems. She claims that moving to Green Bank has been helpful for her health, saying, "Here in Green Bank allows me to be with people. People here do not carry cell phones so I can socialize."
But are all of these people just misdiagnosing themselves? Bob Park, a physics professor at the University of Maryland, says that WiFi signals are just not strong enough to cause people to become sick. He states, "The bigger problem that we face is that in our society, driven by technological change, people have very little education. There are lots of things people need to learn and they"re not learning it. The thing that"s going to kill them is ignorance."